FOI release

FOI202600009S External Employee Relations

Published 29 June 2026

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - REQUEST REF: FOI2026/00009S 

Thank you for your email of 11 May 2026 asking for information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000. You asked: 

“I request information concerning external Employee Relations (ER), HR disciplinary, workplace investigation and related consultancy services and contractors commissioned or engaged by FCDO Services between 1 June 2025 and 30 June 2026.  

Please provide:  

1) A list of all external suppliers, contractors, consultants or consultancy firms engaged to provide:  

a. employee relations support,  

b. disciplinary support,  

c. workplace investigation services,  

d. dismissal-related consultancy,  

e. or organisational change consultancy.  

2) For each engagement identified, please provide:  

a. supplier or contractor name,  

b. engagement start date,  

c. engagement end date (if applicable),  

d. general description of services,  

e. and whether the engagement was ongoing, ad hoc, fixed-term, or retained.  

3) The procurement or engagement route used for each arrangement, including whether the services were:  

a. directly awarded,  

b. competitively tendered,  

c. commissioned through a framework agreement,  

d. or engaged through an intermediary supplier or contractor arrangement.  

4) The total amount paid to each supplier or contractor during the period specified.  

5) The number of consultancy days, contractor days, hours, or estimated time commitments contracted or invoiced, where recorded.  

6) Any records identifying the creation, expansion, commencement, or increased use of external ER consultancy services or contractors during the requested period.”  

I am writing to confirm that we have now completed the search for the information which you requested.   

I can confirm that FCDO Services does hold information relevant to your request, as set out below. 

1) Investigo Limited and Bramble Hub Limited. 

2) This information is exempt under section 21 of the FOIA, as we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you.  Details for each of the supplier engagements can be found here:  

• https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/f5b72ff6-76ec-4d98-8cc8-9bcb68d3d5f2  

• https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/d163c24c-c6da-4dc6-8336-fc41a97bad2d  

Individual contractor names qualify as personal data relating to third parties, the disclosure of which would contravene one of the data protection principles. In such circumstances sections 40(2) and 40(3A)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act apply. In this case, our view is that disclosure would breach the data protection principle that personal data should be processed lawfully, fairly and transparently. It is the fairness aspect of this principle, which, in our view, would be breached by disclosure. In such circumstances, s.40 confers an absolute exemption on disclosure. There is, therefore, no public interest test to apply. 

3) This information is exempt under section 21 of the FOIA, as we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you.  Details of the procurement or engagement route used for each supplier can be found here:  

• https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/f5b72ff6-76ec-4d98-8cc8-9bcb68d3d5f2  

• https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/d163c24c-c6da-4dc6-8336-fc41a97bad2d  

4) Investigo Limited - £228,456.00 (including VAT). The contract value listed in the above notice and the total spend will differ, as the value of the contract shown in the notice is based on an estimation for the initial contract period, whereas the spend data is the figure actually paid to the supplier. 

Bramble Hub Limited – No records held 

5) Investigo - ER Review & Casework Support 

• ER Review n/a as this is a fixed cost contract 

• Casework Support - Day Rate (as/when required no commitment given) 145 days invoiced 

Bramble Hub - Culture Change Programme – n/a as this is a fixed cost contract 

6) As detailed in the above notices, both contracts include an optional 6 x 1 month extension period 

Once an FOI request is answered, it is considered to be in the public domain.  To promote transparency, FCDO Services may now publish the response and any material released on GOV.UK in the FOI releases section.  All personal information in the letter will be removed before publishing.  

Where copies of information have been supplied to you they will continue to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.  You are free to use it for your own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for the purposes of news reporting.  Any other re-use, for example commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder.  Most documents supplied by the FCDO will have been produced by government officials and will be protected by Crown Copyright.  To re-use Crown Copyright documents please consult the Open Government Licence v3 on the National Archives website. 

Information you receive which is not subject to Crown Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. You must ensure that you gain their permission before reproducing any third party (non-Crown Copyright) information. 

If you would like to request a review of our decision, you should write to the Data Protection Officer (DPO), Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) Team, FCDO Services, Hanslope Park, Milton Keynes, England, MK19 7BH (e-mail: FCDOServices.DataProtectionOfficer@fcdo.gov.uk).  Please note you have 40 working days to do so from the date of this letter. Please quote the reference number above in any future communications. 

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may then apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.  Generally, the Information Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the FCDO. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF, or online at: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/  

Yours sincerely, 

FOI Officer 

Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) Team 

FCDO Services 

For information about how FCDO Services handles personal information please see our Personal Information Charter.